The Barcelona Principles – An agreement on the use of human donated tissue for ocular transplantation, research and future technologies, are now available in Arabic, Chinese (simplified), French, Portuguese-Brazilian and Spanish (Latin). These are accessible via: http://www.gaeba.org/publications/

]]>http://www.gaeba.org/2018/752/feed/0Transplant professionals welcome update to the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism at international workshophttp://www.gaeba.org/2018/transplant-professionals-welcome-update-to-the-declaration-of-istanbul-on-organ-trafficking-and-transplant-tourism-at-international-workshop/
http://www.gaeba.org/2018/transplant-professionals-welcome-update-to-the-declaration-of-istanbul-on-organ-trafficking-and-transplant-tourism-at-international-workshop/#commentsMon, 02 Jul 2018 02:16:01 +0000http://www.gaeba.org/?p=711Read More ]]>

MADRID, July 1, 2018 – The first new edition of the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism, a seminal document that has helped to guide ethical practice in organ donation and transplantation around the world, was presented today at an international workshop in Madrid, Spain.

The Declaration was originally published in 2008, following a summit convened by The Transplantation Society (TTS) and the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) in response to growing concerns about international trafficking in human organs. It established definitions of practices such as transplant tourism and organ trafficking, and principles to guide policy makers and health professionals working in organ donation and transplantation. Since 2008, more than 135 professional societies have formally endorsed the Declaration.

The Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group (DICG) is an international group of transplant professionals and scholars that works closely in collaboration with its parent organizations, TTS and the ISN, to encourage and support implementation of the Declaration’s principles around the world. In 2017 the DICG formed an international working group to draft a new edition of the Declaration, updating the definitions and principles in the light of clinical, legal, and social developments in the field throughout the last decade.

In April this year, the DICG launched a public consultation inviting feedback on the draft updated to the Declaration. All DICG members, members of organizations that have endorsed the Declaration, and other interested stakeholders were invited to participate.

More than 250 people from around the world participated in the working group and public consultation; approximately 65 submissions officially represented national or regional organizations. The response from the public consultation was overwhelming positive: participants welcomed the renewed commitment to combatting organ trafficking and transplant tourism, the updated and expanded definitions of key terms, and a clearer set of principles to guide policy and practice.

The new edition of the Declaration incorporating feedback from the public consultation was presented today in Madrid, at a DICG workshop celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Declaration, as part of the 27th International Congress of TTS. The new edition will be published on the Declaration of Istanbul website, with translations into several languages coming soon. In the coming weeks, a comprehensive Commentary Paper on the 2018 Edition will also be published. The Commentary Paper will explain the principles in more detail and provide suggestions for their practical application in response to questions and suggestions from participants in the public consultation.

]]>http://www.gaeba.org/2018/transplant-professionals-welcome-update-to-the-declaration-of-istanbul-on-organ-trafficking-and-transplant-tourism-at-international-workshop/feed/0Launch: Barcelona Principleshttp://www.gaeba.org/2018/launch-barcelona-principles/
http://www.gaeba.org/2018/launch-barcelona-principles/#commentsThu, 14 Jun 2018 22:02:27 +0000http://www.gaeba.org/?p=702Read More ]]>14th June 2018 – Barcelona: We are proud to announce the launch of The Barcelona Principles – An agreement on the use of human donated tissue for ocular transplantation, research, and future technologies, signed in the presence of Alba Verges i Bosch – Calalonian Minister of Health, Dr Jose Nunez – WHO Medical Products of Human Origin Service Delivery and Safety Department, and Dr Paul Dubord Ophthalmologist and WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Human Cell, Tissue & Organ Transplantation.

We wish to thank our hosts, the Centro de Barraquer Ophthalmology Centre and Barcelona Tissue Bank for their support and dedication to the launch.

]]>http://www.gaeba.org/2018/launch-barcelona-principles/feed/0Global Call to Action – new ICO position statement on human corneal tissue for transplantationhttp://www.gaeba.org/2017/global-call-to-action-new-ico-position-statement-on-human-corneal-tissue-for-transplantation/
http://www.gaeba.org/2017/global-call-to-action-new-ico-position-statement-on-human-corneal-tissue-for-transplantation/#commentsMon, 16 Oct 2017 23:20:29 +0000http://www.gaeba.org/?p=644Read More ]]>The new International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) position Statement: Donation, Processing, Allocation, Advocacy, and Legislation Supporting Human Corneal Tissue for Ocular Transplant is now available.

As an initiative of the ICO, in partnership with the Corneal Society and GAEBA, the document provides guidance to a wide range of eye care, eye bank and corneal service providers across the globe.

GAEBA would like to thank the ICO and the Corneal Society for this opportunity, and numerous members of our global community for their support in developing this document.

]]>http://www.gaeba.org/2017/global-call-to-action-new-ico-position-statement-on-human-corneal-tissue-for-transplantation/feed/0Call for Abstracts – World Eye Bank Symposium (Barcelona 2018)http://www.gaeba.org/2017/call-for-abstract-world-eye-bank-symposium-barcelona-2018/
http://www.gaeba.org/2017/call-for-abstract-world-eye-bank-symposium-barcelona-2018/#commentsMon, 11 Sep 2017 02:48:15 +0000http://www.gaeba.org/?p=632Read More ]]>We are accepting abstracts – from all over the world – for our World Eye Bank Symposium (June 15th 2018 – Barcelona). The abstract period has now closed.

The Medical Advisory Board met by conference call in an urgent session on February 1, 2016 to discuss a potentially life threatening adverse event. A recipient of a keratolimbal allograft developed a malignant melanoma in the operative eye within two months of surgery. The donor tissue came from a patient with a history of malignant melanoma. While formal testing to confirm that the melanoma is donor derived is pending, all clinical evidence suggests it is. During the conference call, the MAB discussed the specifics of this case and several published articles on the behavior of malignant melanoma identified from a cursory review of current literature.

Following the discussion, the unanimous consensus of the MAB was that until a more formal analysis could be performed:

Ocular tissue from donors with any history of melanoma may not be released for any surgical use.

Ocular tissue from donors with any history of metastatic solid tumors may not be released for surgical use of vascular components, such as conjunctiva or keratolimbal tissue. Cornea and scleral distribution is acceptable.

These restrictions take effect immediately and will remain in effect until the EBAA Fall Meeting on October 13, 2016, when it is expected more targeted updates to the Medical Standards will be made to minimize the risk of tumor transmission from ocular tissues. This moratorium creates additional restrictions on ocular tissue donor eligibility determination and does not alter the current EBAA Medical Standards (November 2015).

To more thoroughly analyze the risks of tumor transmission and propose appropriate medical standard changes to the MAB at the Fall Meeting, a special subcommittee was created. Members of the subcommittee are:

Questions regarding these changes can be directed to Michael Nordlund, MD, PhD, Chair of the Medical Advisory Board (mnordlund@cincinnatieye.com).

]]>http://www.gaeba.org/2016/519/feed/0EBAANZ Ratifies ANZs – first Bioethical Framework for Policy and Practicehttp://www.gaeba.org/2015/ebaanz-ratifies-anzs-first-bioethical-framework-for-policy-and-practice/
http://www.gaeba.org/2015/ebaanz-ratifies-anzs-first-bioethical-framework-for-policy-and-practice/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 02:07:00 +0000http://www.gaeba.org/?p=420Read More ]]>PERTH: Yesterday, Members of EBAANZ ratified Australia and New Zealand’s first regional Bioethics Framework concerning Human Tissue for Ocular Application, during their annual meeting held in conjunction with the Corneal Society, at the Perth Convention Centre.
Inspired by the Declaration of Istanbul – which was developed to support ethical practice and policy in human organ transplantation internationally – and encouraged by the World Health Organization, EBAANZ members collaborated with corneal surgeons, policy advisers of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, and obstetric representatives, to develop a framework relevant to the ANZ eye bank community and the wider eye care and donor communities. Dr Dominique Martin, bioethicist at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Health Equity also collaborated on the project.
“The Framework” says EBAANZ Acting-Chair, Dr Graeme Pollock, “focuses on 9 key strategies which are designed to guide care and professional conduct while completing donor consent, tissue preparation and tissue distribution aspects of our cornea, sclera and amnion tissue custodian service.
“The Framework will support our professionals to work together to address tissue needs within our population and provide guidelines to surgeons and eye banks who are approached by colleagues from other countries for humanitarian support.
“Our natural instinct is to always help others but we needed some guidelines for decisions about how and where we should help. It also meant that we were ensuring that the generous gifts of ANZ donors were being respected and that our priority remains the ANZ recipients.
“As a collective Association, we are aware of some of the issues facing other countries – which we are to-date blessed to not experience, so we also wanted to be pro-active and ensure that we continued to up-hold the standards and expectations of ANZ donors and recipients and ensure our services are not hampered by external factors”, says Dr Pollock.
The Framework’s key recommendations include the: activities and wellbeing of the donor, particularly the vulnerable donor; ethical collaboration and interaction with the local, national and global eye care communities and governments; the necessity for policy and training; tissue distribution and prioritization – especially during periods of insufficient supply; prevention of profiteering, trafficking and tampering; and accountability and effective leadership.

Eye Bank Association of Australia & New Zealand (EBAANZ) is a not-for-profit organisation, and the peak body for eye donation and transplantation services in Australia and New Zealand. EBAANZ is dedicated to helping restore sight, providing national and international leadership and standards for eye banking, and advocating for the eye banking sector by promoting the unique requirements of eye banks, and facilitating the sharing of information and expertise amongst EBAANZ members. www.ebaanz.org

Due to the recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa over the past few months, members of the Global Alliance of Eye Bank Associations (GAEBA) have commenced collaboration and sharing of regional responses on the EVD – in relation to ocular tissue donation – to ensure global preparedness.
As response plans vary across the world, primarily due to the proximity to the EVD outbreak, the changes to the level of risk facing each country and the spread of the disease, the GAEBA therefore advise that all Eye Bank Managers and Medical Directors contact their closest regional Eye Bank Association (outlined below), or the GAEBA, to ascertain local/regional exclusion and deferral criteria for EVD.

Key Points about EVD
• A person can remain infectious for up to 7 weeks as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus
• Symptoms include; sudden onset fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function and sometimes internal and external bleeding
• There is a higher concentration of the EVD within the blood, organs and tissues during the immediate death and recovery phase as the body excretes live and infective viruses
• Laboratory findings include low white blood and platelet count and elevated liver enzymes

Recommendations (Regional variations):
Immediate exclusion from donation
• All persons known/diagnosed with EVD are excluded from all donation
Deferred Donation
• Asymptomatic travellers or residents returning from an EVD affected area should be deferred from donation of cells, tissues and organs for 60 days after return, provided they have reported no EVD symptoms (e.g. undiagnosed febrile illness)
• Anyone with a confirmed EVD exposure (e.g. contact with infected person), cannot donate within 60 days of exposure or if being monitored for exposure, within 60 days of the commencement of the monitoring period
• While the long term effects of Ebola survivors are unclear, donation coordinators are advised to consider a 12 month deferral period following exposure.

Partnership Opportunities
To partner with the Global Alliance at this event, please contact Heather Machin via: heather.machin@unimelb.edu.au or info@gaeba.org. In addition to sponsorship of the event, the Global Alliance is seeking scholarship support to assist eye bankers from lower resource countries to attend this meeting. If you can assist, please let us know.